Izana
Izana is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates and an ally in the Birthright and Conquest routes. Profile Archduke of the Kingdom of Izumo, direct descendant of the gods, and five-time winner of the Best Hair award, Izana has an unexpectedly cheerful and joking personality in contrast to his divine appearance and royal status. In a similar vein to Flora, Izana joins the party in My Castle after certain conditions have been met. He will appear in the player's My Castle after Chapter 18 of Birthright or Chapter 22 of Conquest, if they have upgraded their Hot Springs to level 3, and then complete any battle afterwards, after which he will show up in My Castle and is recruited on the spot. Birthright Prior to the events of Chapter 9, Izana was kidnapped by Zola, after which the latter disguised himself as him to fool Corrin and their party. He is later freed after Zola and his men are defeated in battle. He shows off his personality to the Hoshidans, surprising them as they had never expected the ruler of Izumo to be very energetic. Izana decides to host a party in gratitude for saving him. Corrin asks Izana if there had been any battles involving Nohrian troops, and Izana confirms their answers, calling the Nohrians "party poopers" and that they had thrown him in a cell that he had upholstered recently. Corrin later asks Izana about Ryoma and Takumi, and Izana tells them that he heard the battle stretch all the way to the Bottomless Canyon and speculates that they fell in. Izana quickly apologizes for causing them unnecessary worry and performs a fortune, cryptically stating "A double-edged sword" and "Embrace the brand-new day". When he finishes, he tells them that they are still alive, much to their relief. Conquest In Chapter 18, the Nohrian army led by Corrin enter Izumo to relax before all-out war starts between Hoshido and Nohr. Like in all other routes, Zola and his men had arrived earlier and took Izana hostage, throwing him into his cell and leaving him in there. This time though, Ryoma and the Hoshidan royals are captured as well, and the Nohrian put a stop to Zola's plans. After Zola is killed, Izana is freed from his cell and shows off his flamboyant personality, which surprises the Nohrian royals as both sides feast. Revelation In this path in Chapter 10, Izana is still captured by Zola, but eventually rescued by Corrin. Helping to free Takumi and his retainers, Izana helps to convince Takumi to join Corrin's cause to stop Valla. Izana supports Corrin, but Takumi is more reluctant to do so despite Izana telling him otherwise. As a result, he communes with the ancient gods and obtains the message "Go meet the dragon". As he returns to the group, he is exhausted and states that the fortune cost him his life. Izana jokingly states that a bard should write about his noble sacrifice, and jokingly threatens to haunt Takumi as a ghost if he still refuses to help Corrin before dying. Izana's sacrifice results in Takumi and his retainers joining Corrin's army. Since he dies in this route, he cannot be recruited as with the other two paths; Fuga replaces him instead. Personality Contrary to his serene appearance and status as a noble, Izana is extremely flamboyant, peppering his speech with unusual phrases and overall excitable charm. He enjoys throwing parties for even the simplest of things, as on Birthright he asks Corrin to stay for a party for saving him (even though he stayed in a luxurious cell). He is also concerned with his appearance, as he is a five-time winner of the Best Hair Award in Izumo. This is supported in his epilogue, where the war prevented him from winning anymore awards, and despite hosting lavish parties and vacations, was upset about this. The fact that he is also recruited by upgrading the Hot Springs to the highest level also supports this fact. During his spare time, Izana gives fortunes to curious clients. Whether they are legitimate or not are unknown, as during his support conversations with Corrin, he gives a simple fortune which Corrin states that it is quite obvious to everyone. During the Birthright and Revelation playthrough, his fortunes were considerably more accurate than the ones in his support conversations. His birthday is December 29. In-Game Base Stats Tome - B Staff - B |Item= }} Growth Rates |45% |15% |55% |65% |45% |45% |35% |50% |} ◾ Note: Growth Rates are based on the character in their starting class Max Stat Modifiers | 0 | +1 | +1 | -2 | 0 | 0 | +1 |} Supports Romantic Supports *Corrin (Female) Other Supports *Corrin (Male) *Kana (if Izana is his father) Class Sets Standard Sets |} Partner Sets |-|All Routes= |} Special Classes |} Overall Base Class Izana is a typical glass cannon mage boasting a high Magic, Skill, and Resistance growth while lacking in Defense and HP with some mediocre Speed and Luck growths. Due to his base class, Monk, Izana comes with Rally Magic alongside Rally Luck which makes him a decent Rally and Staff user right upon recruitment. Unless Corrin's secondary class is the Monk class, Izana is the only non-Einherjar Monk unit in the Conquest route making him worth considering simply for more rallying diversity though his base stats may not be satisfactory on some higher difficulties. His personal skill, Peacebringer, causes allies and enemies within two spaces to deal 2 less damage and could be compared to Inspiration. Peacebringer uniquely benefits Izana in solo combat as his enemy will deal 2 less damage while he himself is not affected by it. Peacebringer somewhat neuters his support capabilities as it causes nearby allies to deal less damage but this can be somewhat remedied by having Izana heal units before engaging in combat but this has its own downsides. One could place allied units adjacent to Izana to cause any unit attacking one of the adjacent allies to deal 2 less damage but the ally themselves dealing 2 less damage as well. His personal skill only shines when putting him in solo combat but can be unnoticeable or in some cases useful if the player's units have high enough offenses that the reduced damage dealt doesn't affect their combat potency. The Onmyoji class gives him access to Tomefaire, the only skill left for him to learn in the class, should you so choose to bolster his offense. As a Monk, Izana also has access to the Great Master class. Due to Izana's low Strength growth changing Izana to the Great Master class effectively forfeits his offenses - granted he may be rather effective should you raise his lance rank so he may use the Bolt Naginata - in exchange for the higher defense growths of the Great Master class. Great Master gives Izana access to Renewal which gives him health regeneration at the start of his turn alongside giving him the Countermagic skill which may not serve him greatly due to his inherently high Resistance base and growth. Secondary and Tertiary Class Izana has access to two alternate class sets: The Samurai and Apothecary class sets. Both the class sets give Izana an interesting range of skills that allow him to fill offensive roles more effectively as well as assisting him as a support unit a bit. As part of the Samurai class set, Izana gains access to Swordmaster and Master of Arms promotions. From the base Samurai class, Izana gains access to Duelist's Blow and Vantage, both skills that can bolster his offense. Duelist's Blow can be utilized to great effect due to Izana's decent speed growth already giving him a fine Avoid to work with in most of his classes while Vantage is purely offensive but could be used to help him build his Dual Guard gauge or possibly saving him from death if his offenses are high enough to kill an opponent in one hit. Vantage can also synergize with Izana's inherit Miracle skill however you shouldn't count on it due to Izana's rather ordinary Luck growth and the overall riskiness of relying on Miracle's Luck% proc rate. Swordmaster gives Izana purely offensive skills in the form of Astra and Swordfaire. Astra can be utilized in all his classes and possibly even if you intend to use Izana as a supporting unit due to the fact that if all the hits of Astra are executed the Dual Guard gauge will fill entirely which may assist Izana due to his low Defense. Swordfaire gives Izana +5 damage whenever he is wielding a Sword or Katana but only benefits Izana if you choose to keep him in a sword-wielding class which may not be worth the +5 damage due to Izana's low Strength growth. The Master of Arms skills, Seal Strength and Life and Death, are not fantastic skills for Izana. Seal Strength may be utilized to have Izana decrease the Strength of any units that engages him in combat without him killing them which may be utilized to decent effect due to Izana's low defense. Life and Death may be used alongside Vantage to make Izana a revenge killer. In combination with Izana's personal skill - Peacebringer - Life and Death instead causes the enemy to only deal +8 damage in combat effectively since Izana's personal decreases damage dealt by enemies and allies within two spaces by 2 while allowing Izana to retain the +10 damage dealt from Life and Death. From the Apothecary class set, Izana is given access to the Merchant and Mechanist promotions. From the base class, Izana learns Potent Potion and Quick Salve. Potent Potion increases the health healed by healing items and tonics while Quick Salve allows him to use a healing item or tonic and then take another action. Potent Potion can be used to increase the effectiveness of healing items by 50%, such as causing the Concoction to then heal 30 HP to Izana. Potent Potion can also be utilized to increase the effectiveness of tonics, notably you could use it to increase the effectiveness of tonics such as the Defense Tonic and HP Tonic to increase his shaky durability. Quick Salve can be used to have Izana heal as well as attack an enemy which can be rather useful should you make him a more offensive unit or possibly save him if he is starting to get overwhelmed by enemy units and needs to perform both actions in one turn to survive. The Merchant class lets Izana access the skills Profiteer and Spendthrift. Profiteer gives you a (Luck)% of gaining a Gold Bar when he ends his turn for seven turns. Other than obviously synergizing with Spendthrift, Izana is one of the few units in Conquest with access to the Profiteer skill inherently which can assist due to the limited access to gold in the route (without using DLC). Spendthrift allows Izana to spend one Gold Bar from his inventory to deal +10 damage to his enemy and take -10 damage himself when attacking. This skill can be useful to not only help Izana deal damage while in Strength based classes where he may struggle but it also allows a Magic-based Izana to more easily take down high Resistance units. Similar to the already noted effects with Life and Death, Spendthrift allows Izana to effectively deal +10 damage while taking -12 damage himself due to his personal skill. When in the Mechanist class, Izana has access to the skills Golembane and Replicate. It should be noted that Mechanist is Izana's only non-DLC class that gives him access to Shuriken. Golembane allows Izana to deal bonus damage to enemy Mechanists, Puppets/Automatons, and Stoneborn. Golembane isn't terribly useful due to the time in the campaign that you get Izana as well as needing to go through the Mechanist class to actually obtain the skill. The second skill from the Mechanist class is Replicate. Izana can use Replicate to spread out the effect of Peacebringer or use the Replica as a pair-up for himself notably. Due to Izana's questionable defenses, one might not want to use the Replica aggressively due to the risk of losing him. Marriage Classes Izana's only marriage candidate is Corrin, meaning that Izana will get whatever class the player sets as a Talent and that Izana can not get a Marriage Class with male Corrin. There's a handful of class sets that one could consider making their talent if they are marrying Izana. The Dark Mage line gives Izana access to the Dark Knight and Sorcerer classes. From the base class, Izana gets Heartseeker and Malefic Aura. Heartseeker is unlikely to be useful to Izana due to his decent base Skill and growth, not to mention that you won't typically want Izana engaging in melee combat due to his low Defense stat. Dark Knight gives Izana some more bulk in exchange for some Speed while also granting him Sword access. The access to Swords is unlikely to be particularly useful to Izana due to his low Strength. However, he does learn Seal Magic and Lifetaker from the class, which provide interesting utility opportunities. Seal Magic is unlikely to see much use on him due to his already high resistance but Lifetaker, when combined with Renewal, gives Izana 80% HP recovery on his turn if he gets a kill which can help him recover from a dangerous combat scenario. Sorcerer gives Izana access to Vengeance, a decent attacking skill for him, alongside Bowbreaker. Vengeance gives Izana a proc skill with a decent activation rate (Skill^1.5%) that can be rather deadly when combined with a chance Miracle activation. Bowbreaker won't usually be particularly useful for Izana as he has no inherit access to a flying class that would benefit greatly from the skill and Izana will typically be used in a Tome-wielding class, which already gives him Weapon Triangle advantage against bows. One could consider giving Izana the Knight class line which while the classes it grants, General and Great Knight, are not useful classes for Izana to remain in it gives him some helpful skills. It should be noted that in order to obtain these skills you will need to level Izana to the point in these classes where they can be obtained, which may not be worth the trouble of leveling a magically based character through an exclusively physically based class. The base skills of Natural Cover and Defense +2 can be decent utility due to the prevalence of defensive terrain in Fates - more notably in Conquest - and Defense +2 can give Izana a slight Defense boost. General gives Izana access to Wary Fighter but more notably access to Pavise. Izana typically has a good enough Speed to not warrant Wary Fighter but Pavise can be used to perhaps increase Izana's durability against physical attacks though it is not guaranteed to proc so it's usually much better to use Pavise as though it is a random bonus to Izana's defenses rather than relying on it. Great Knight gives Izana access to Luna and Armored Blow. Since Izana's only attacking skill in his initial reclass options is Astra, which has a Skill*0.25% of activation, Luna is a decent damage increasing skill for Izana boasting an activation rate of Skill%. Armored Blow reduces physical damage dealt to Izana by 10 on Player Phase which can be useful to have him take out high priority physical threats with a reduced risk of falling due to his low Defense stat. The Oni Savage class line is another class tree that one might consider passing to Izana. The base skills of the class, Seal Resistance and Shove can be utilized to decent effect by Izana. Seal Resistance allows Izana to lower the Resistance of an enemy after a round of combat with them which can be useful when he is going up against enemies with a high Resistance since Izana is primarily magical and Seal Resistance can allow him to pierce their lower their Resistance so he can grab the kill or give it to another magic focused character. From Oni Chieftain, Izana can grab the skills Death Blow and Counter. Death Blow grants Izana +20 Crit on Player Phase which can give him some more offensive capabilities. Counter can used to decent effect on Izana since his typically low defenses should allow him to retaliate some decent damage back and can be extremely potent when combined with a Miracle activation. One could also keep Izana in the Oni Chieftain class which, while lowering Izana speed and magic, can bolster his defenses while still allowing him to wield Tomes. Blacksmith, while entirely a physical class, gives Izana access to Salvage Blow and Lancebreaker. Salvage Blow can be used alongside Profiteer to make Izana a decent Gold and resources generator should you find yourself in need of someone filling the role, which on Conquest most notably, can be a difficult role to be filled. Most notably though, Blacksmith gives Izana access to Lancebreaker, which increases his Hit and Avoid by 50 when fighting foes wielding lances. Since Izana is likely to have less than spectacular Defence and end off in a Tome-using class (which has a Weapon Triangle disadvantage against lances) one could very easily find potency in running Lancebreaker on Izana. Quotes Refer to Izana/Quotes. Possible Endings ; Izana - Lord of Leisure (イズモ公王 Izumo Kō'ō lit. Prince King of Izumo) : Izana certainly suffered the ravages of war—he was never able to win another "Best Hair" contest. He tried to make up for it with lavish dinner parties and vacations, but he felt hollow inside. ; Izana and Corrin : Izana returned to Izumo and continued hosting great banquets and feasts for neighboring royals. Corrin was hailed as a hero, working alongside her spouse to spread peace worldwide. Non-Canon Appearances ''Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher) Izana is illustrated in the trading card game ''Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards: Etymology Izana may be named after Izanagi or Izanami. His name is fitting as he is a direct descendant of the gods, while Izanagi and Izanami are the two original beings in Japanese mythology. Trivia *Izana shares his English voice actor, Liam O'Brien, with Laslow and Zola. *Izana was voted as the 28th most popular male character in Nintendo's official Fates character poll. *Izana is the only character who is playable in Birthright and Conquest but not Revelation. *Izana is also the only exclusive path character that is playable in more than one path. *Despite that he cannot be recruited in Revelation, Izana originally has a Revelation paired ending coded into the game, suggesting that he was playable at some point, however this ultimately goes unused. *Along with Nyx and Mozu, he is the only recruitable character that cannot be fought in any route or DLC chapter in Fates. *If Izana is recruited later than when the Hot Springs can first be fully upgraded, he will be automatically leveled up to compensate for his later joining time. He shares this property with Yukimura, Flora and Fuga. Gallery IzanaConcept.jpg|Concept art of Izana File:Izana_cipher.jpg File:Izana_cipher_2.jpg B10-072HN.png|Izana as an Onmyoji in Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). B10-073N.png|Izana as a Diviner in Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher). Izana Still.png|Still image of Izana from chapter 9 of Birthright. Izana confession.jpg|Izana's confession scene. Izana portrait.png|Izana's portrait. Izanaavatar.png|Izana's official Twitter icon FEF Izana My Room Model.png|Izana's model for the Private Quarters. Category:Playable characters Category:Fire Emblem Fates characters Category:Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher) Characters Category:Male Characters